Arab Street?

Fire of Liberty

If you've paid attention to CNN or other MSM entities in the past and especially know, you generally hear the State Department types and other talking heads who throw the term Arab Street out in interviews. Before and during the Iraq War, one would hear someone expressing their fears that the Arab Street will rise up in a fit of hatred towards the US throughout the region because we attacked a fellow Muslim nation. The "Arab Street" has also been a favorite bogey-man which was shared by the various dictators and regimes in the Middle East. These regimes have argued that Arab Street was raging with American hatred and Islamic fundamentalists who would wreak chaos on the region if they were roused due to the removal of a fellow Autocrat or the loosening of their power. Unfortunately for these regimes, the violent Arab Street never emerged but a Arab Democratic Spring arose after the war and subsequent elections in Iraq. Instead of hating America, the Arab Street loves the US and has taken to the streets against their masters.

I think one of the best arguments of such ideas is an article over @ Tech Central Station by Michael J. Totten. As a World traveler(especially of the Arab states) who immerses himself into the various cultures he visits, Totten has a good finger on the pulse of the area.